A Program incorporating Physics, Astronomy and Environment

Summary

A cultural role of astronomical education at all levels is well known and it is needless to repeat the corresponding arguments. Nobody denies it, but nobody can propose any universal way of introducing Astronomy on a level this branch of science deserves.

There is a good tradition to appreciate Astronomy in Russian schools. For more than a century part of the natural history science in school dedicated to the Universe has been considered as a separate part of the school curriculum in Russia. Before 1917 it was named Cosmography, and Astronomy thereafter. And up to now there is no decision or prescription to rule it out of the school program.

Nevertheless the teaching of Astronomy becomes less and less. Astronomy is taught only then and there where the enthusiasts of this subject are in existence. But the recent process of liberation of the educational system demands different approaches. Up to the present time several attempts to integrate astronomy with physics have not been very successful. The reason is the difference between their educational purposes.

The main purpose of this report is to emphasize the advantage of a somewhat more balanced program incorporating physics, astronomy and environment. Such a choice provides a more natural reason for integration, based on the ideal common to all three parts, to consider the world we live in as our home and property. The most general and fundamental ideas should be emphasized in such a course. As for astronomy, whose social importance is enormous in spite of the negligible teaching time, the necessary requirement is to elaborate a certain school minimum of astronomical knowledge.